Over 50 Things we stopped buying and never missed. Oh the beautiful savings!

I keep hearing that becoming a Minimalist is only for rich people and it is expensive to become a Minimalist!


Honestly, I have never heard a good or solid argument for this comment. But here is an example of how Minimalism can save you money.


Lots of money actually!



Bellow,is a list of things we had stopped buying years ago and never missed them.

1. Television cable. ------------> Netflix and Amazon prime
2. Gas for my car. ---------------> Plug-in Electric
3. Oil change for my car.---------------------> Plug-in Electric car
4. Paper towels.-------------> Stack of 20 kitchen washable towels for drying hands and dishes
5. Disposable wipes--------> Micro fibers.
6. Garbage bags--------------> Barely create garbage. Directly in to recycle bin, compost bin and garbage bin. I have three small buckets, one for each in my kitchen and once they are full, I dump everything in the big garbage bins. (But have some bio bags in hand just in case.)
7. Any kind of ziplock bags.-----------> Reusable fabric pencil bags with zipper. Also Pyrex dishes.
8. Aluminum foils -----------> Not needed. Either use Pyrex dishes or cover plates with clean napkins. 
9. Tupperware. -------------------> see this post
10. Plastic wraps.------------------> Not needed Pyrex dishes. Flour cloth. Napkins
11. Sponges ------------------------> hand made crochet from recycled yarn. lasts many years and I just wash them with our laundry.
12. Dish washing liquid-----------> Eco Friendly Multi purpose cleaner
13. Surface cleaner-----------------> Diluted multi purpose cleaner or vinegar. ( Used for bathtub, kitchen.......)
14. Coffee filter -------------------> French press
15. Bottled water ------------------> Tap water in reusable containers. 
16. Hand lotion in kitchen--------> Gentle dish detergent. Olive oil if needed 
17. Jet dry dish washer rinse-----> White Vinegar.
18. Disposable plates, cups, utensils ...------> Small jars for party drinks. Plates and utenciles reusable.
19. Disposable napkins------------> Fabric home made napkins. Only have one pack handy for picky guests. 
20. Disposable aluminum containers------> Big Pyrex dishes
21. Salad dressings.----------------> Olive oil and rice vinegar purchased from bulk store in my own jars.
22. Yoghurt. ------------------------> Home made
23. Tissues --------------------------> Only have a home made handkerchief made out of old Tshirts for my kid with allergies. Rest of us don't need it. Don't even remember what would we be using it for! 
24. Books -----------------> Library and on line blogs. 
25. CD, DVD -------------> Pandora and Netflix.
26. Toys -------------------> Once a year for Christmas. One Big toy only. The Birthday party is our gift by itself.
27. Clothes ---------------> once a year or so. Only if we truly need something. (Consumerism and buying cheap clothing and fast fashion is horrible for the environment.)
28. Fabric softener-------> Not needed. Haven't used for many years and no one noticed. 
29. Drier sheets-----------> Not needed
30. Face wipes, make up removers, eye make up removers wipe..... ------ > wash with soap and wash cloth. Olive oil. Or coconut oil to remove make up. Don't wear too much make up any ways. 
31. Cotton rounds--------> Home made and reusable. 
32. Shower gel------------> Soap
33. Exfoliator and scrubs for body.-----------------> Natural Loofah or a wash cloth
34. Hair masks and treatments-----------------------> Olive oil and conditioner
35. Face scrubs ----------------------------------------> Baking Soda
36. Tooth Paste-----------------------------------------> Home made
37. Mouth wash.---------------------------------------->  No need
38. Different lotions for different parts of body. Foot lotion, hand lotion, cellulitis, dark spots, skin brighter.ETC, ETC....!!! --------> Home made lotion. Coconut butter+Shea butter+ bees wax+ water+ jojoba oil. Or just put some oil on right after shower and you are done. 
39. Different make ups --------------->  See this post
40. Colognes and perfumes ---------->  Only have one perfume and only use it on special occasions. Lasts two years. It is in my Christmas list every other year. 
41. Face mask, cleanser, toner, tanner, black head remover. Etc......... ----------> Soap. Lemon juice. coconut and olive oil. Peroxide for acne. Baking soda.
42. Hand sanitizers --------------------> Not needed.
43. Candles. Still have from old days. ------> But not really needed. Used once awhile. 
44. Bath foams, salts, fizzer........ -------------> Not needed. Preferring quick showers due to Drought. 
45. Seosonal decorations ----------------> see this post.
46. Air freshener -------------------------->  natural or not needed. 
47. Office supplies.------------------------> We are paperless.
48. Printer ink -----------------------------> refill.
49. Extra Shoes ---------------------------> maybe once per year for each family member only as needed. (Fast fashion is damaging to environment)
50. Latest gadgets and electronics.--------------> still working on my husband on that. But he is doing much better :) 

I am sure there is more. But honestly, many more items I see in other people's houses that I don't buy, need nor have.

It is kind of hard to know what you don't buy if you never bought them. For example different laundry detergents for dark and light and white and wool .........

Laundry perfumes!!!!!  ....... I never even knew they do exist!!!  (What a waste of money!) 

Did, NOT buying these items changed our quality of life? You bet it did! 

-A LOT Less clutter (Visually, Mentally and Emotionally).
-Less wasting time window shopping and browzing.
-Less stress due to things finishing and being low on something. (" I need to run! We need fabric softness and I can't do laundry!" A friend once said ).
-Less spending.
-Less time at stores ( We are usually In and Out).
-Less junk to organize and deal with.


 Yes. All these Less'es deeply changed the quality of our lives.

Think about it. 

What are YOU not buying and not missing?
Paris.


Addendum:


I noticed that my computer hadn't saved my proof reading and this post was packed with mistakes. Please accept my apology.


While I am correcting the problem, I may as well add few more items.


Hee hee hee.


Here there are.

51.  Vacuum cleaner bags ------------------------>Roomba and a hand held vacuum. Just emptying the canister directly in the garbage bin does it.
51.  Any specialty tools, like various peeler, Apple cutter, Garlic crusher, Olive oil mister...........
52.  Most school supplies. Pens and other items-------------------------------> We have enough from old days to last us years to come. (Don't even know where all these pencils and pens are coming from)
53.  Extra clothing -----------------------------> We buy about once a year or so and only what we need.
54.  Microwave. Haven't had one for years.
55.  Individually packaged snacks.
56.  House decorations.----------> We have only two paintings which we have had for over 15 years.
57.  Unwanted gifts for friends -------------------> Beer, Wine, Food, eatables, Flowers, Gift card (Everybody has more than enough stuff in their houses. More incoming items for them are not the best gifts)
58.  Jewelry (Custom or real)---------------------> I have had few favorites that I love for years. Nothing new coming in
59. Nail polish ------------------> Have had a couple for years now.
60. Last but not least!!!!! Anything other than strict necessary. Includes Extra Glasses, Extra Sun Glasses, Multiple different drinking and coffee cups and glasses, Serving dishes, Fancy looking anything, Duplicate of anything and anything that needs to be advertised to be sold.


Can't even imagine how hectic my life would have been if I had been buying those stuff.


Thank you everybody for reading. Please think about your own shopping habits.
Paris

See my new page "Related Movies"

I love to watch documentaries. They are so many wonderful and eye opening documentaries out there and most of them are free. On my new page, i created a list of many movies and documentaries for you that have been life changing for me and my family.

So Please look on the right side of my blog for the newly added page called " Related movies".

I will constantly update it and add more links and names. I will deeply appreciate it if you wonderful readers add to my list by making a comment to this post.

Here is a link to my new page.

Thank you and enjoy.
Paris

Home made Tomato paste

Different colors are due to them being done in different times.

During the past two years, one thing i never needed to buy again was tomato paste.

Being Persian by origin and a lover of Italian food, tomato paste has been a vital part of daily recipes in our home. I used to stock my pantry up with the small cans of paste. But no more.

I do our own tomato paste at home now.

I do it at the end of summer when the tomatoes are ripe and sweet. They are also very inexpensive during that time of the year.

I usually buy them for 50 cents per pound from our local farmers market. I choose the so called "Seconds" that are uglier ones and less expensive. Nobody else would buy them, because well, they are "Seconds". I get as much organic tomatoes as i can get my hands on. But they are sometimes harder to come by in our market.

Here is a very simple and fast way of doing it.

1.Wash and clean the tomatoes.

2. Cut and discard the damaged parts.

3. Cut or chop them in pieces.

4. Place them in a large pot and cover.

5. Bring to boil for ten minutes.

6. Once cold, pass the content through a big sieve removing the seeds, skins and the tough parts.( I just dig in with my washed hands and squeeze the tomatoes)

7. Add some or no salt.

8. Blend the Tomatoes.

9. Pour the paste in the large pot and bring it to boil.

10. Boil and stir often till you get the desired consistency. To get a thicker paste and less elbow grease, you could pour it in a flat tray and place it in the oven for 1-2 hours on 250 degrees.

11. Pour in your sterilized jars and place the lids.

12. Wait to enjoy the pop sounds.


You could add olive oil, basil, more salt, peppers, lemon juice...

This paste has no preservative, is natural, inexpensive and fresh. Another benefit is that it does not create waste. It has become a fun project in our home. We do it once a year and it easily lasts us a year.

You could try it and start small. Chances are you would love it.


8 reasons why we never use coupons.

I like to save money like every other person. But one thing I never really use or worry about, is
coupons.

I know people, that swear by the power of coupons and I also have seen one single episode of Extreme Couponing. It saved people tons of money. But in our household, we almost never use them.

Don't take me wrong. We are not extremely rich people that don't care about money nor we are big spenders. On the contrary, I am very interested in our household's financials and am not scared of talking about money. Saving money makes me happy. What I have been noticing is that the coupons simply don't serve us with our lifestyle.

Here is why.

1. We eat fresh. It is almost impossible to find coupons for fresh produce. They are usually just on sale and don't need coupons. We mostly buy our fresh produce at Farmers market and they don't need coupons. When we miss the market and have to go to stores, we just buy mostly organic fresh produce. They also almost never have coupons.

2. We eat local and seasonal. We focus on eating local. I never understand why we have to buy food that have been traveling around the world. We are fortunate enough to have enough of everything produced here in our own country and state. I feel that my family will be just fine if they don't eat the Tilapia fish produced in, let's say Taiwan. We can just eat the fish that has been caught wild in Pacific Ocean. Nobody ever died or deeply suffered from the lack of Tilapia.

3. We don't eat processed food. This one is a big one as far as coupons go. I would say possibly 99% of the coupons are from the big corporations and are almost always for processed, wrapped and boxed food. We make almost everything from scratch and don't need all those boxed, processed and old food.

4. We (almost) don't produce waste. Everything with coupons is packed and wrapped. We buy in bulk and always bring our own produce bags. Again, there is no coupon for bulk and produce food.

5. We don't buy anything we don't need. That means we don't buy bottled water, paper towels, juices, sodas, candies, snacks and junk food,.... these are usually the items which the coupons are used for. I make home made regular or sweet potato fries instead of  packaged chips. We make strawberry and banana smoothies and i freeze them for home-made Popsicles. We make home made cookies with my kids instead of watching TV on weekends. It is a fun and healthy activity. We love the quality time and the cookies are delicious made with organic sugar.

6. We almost only eat organic meat. They are from local farms and don't belong to the big meat factories with big names and brands. Again, no coupons.  We eat tons of vegetable and eat meat maybe two to three times a week. We eat lots of organic eggs and fish during the week.

7. We don't buy frozen food. Since we eat local and seasonal, we don't need to buy anything frozen. I do freeze our leftovers. But living in a country that stores are in every corner and even some are open 24/7, I don't feel the need to pack our refrigerator and freezer with tons of food. (We don't own a second "garage refrigerator" like most suburban families do).

8. We shop once a week and buy only for that week. We don't buy something, unless it is finished. On the other words, we don't buy anything that we still have more of. We don't have forgotten food and expired goods. In fact, what we buy doesn't have expiration dates since they are not packaged. Since we buy only for one week or so, we never worry about expiration dates and freshness of our produces. It is always fresh.

Looking at our grocery habits, you will know why we never really need coupons. Eating almost all organic meat and healthy food with lots of bulk nuts and fresh fruit and vegetable, you might think we must spend a fortune on food.

I track our spending closely on Mint.com and our spending on grocery shopping is not out of ordinary. We like to eat out sometimes and do eat out around ten times a month.We also enjoy having friends over.

How much in average are we spending on grocery shopping and food in a month? Around $600-$700 for a family of four. That includes our eating out and our coffee treats in coffee shop. This is our family's base grocery spending. It could vary depending on circumstances.

This also does not include the extra spending on gatherings with friends which i consider it to be by far our best investment. The spending on inviting friends is a great investment in a better life enriched with wonderful friends and family. That is when we spend with pleasure.

But still one thing I never have to worry and think about is clipping coupons.

For here cup !!! Coffee.

In our house, we love coffee. Drinking coffee is not the greenest thing to do. But we still love our coffee. Imagine there are some people around the world that are cutting the Amazon trees and rain forests down just to plant coffee bushes for us. Then they are taking care of the bush and harvest them. Then we have the big corporations with all their paperwork and team of professionals roasting and preparing and transporting them here for us so we can drink our latte in the morning!

But what can i say. We just really love coffee. For our home, we buy Shade grown Organic bulk coffee to have a much better tasting drink with lower impact on our environment. See my post regarding that here.

 To make it, we use French press. Simple. No filters needed. We ground our own coffee at home with a small electric coffee grinder. The smell and taste is unbelivably good. Zero waste created and the used coffee ground end up in either our garden, or compost. 

But when we are going out for coffee, we usually bring our own cups. Our reusable cups have been our friends for a long time and we are used to them.

When we forget our cups, we try to just seat down and have our coffee there in the Cafe. Most of them have porcelain cups that you can request. In Starbucks, they call it "For here cups" They are beautiful and the coffee or tea or any other beverages tastes great in them. Once we are done, we just 

bring them back to the counter and thank them. very easy.

It is very frustrating to see people order a drink and get a to go plastic cup and then seat there and drink it. At the end, that one drink produces waste. With the volume of beverages these coffee shops are serving and selling, the amount of waste is stunningly high numbers of cups, lids, straws,...

In the landfills.

So Please, when you go for that nice drink with a friend and you want to seat down to drink it, either bring your own coffee cup, or just ask for their "for here cups". Your coffee will taste better and you will drink it with a cleaner conscious.

What type of cup have you used to have your drink in it lately?

Paris

How to regrow green onions and leeks.



After one week in the water.

 

It is easy to have fun and always have some green onions and leeks handy by regrowing from your kitchen scraps.

Here is how i regrow green onions and leeks in the water.

The green onion was cut pretty short and this is after a week of growth in the water. I have been cutting parts and pieces and have been using them in my food already.

By planting my kitchen scraps, i am also teaching my children that they don't need to run to the store for the smallest thing. They can plant things and it could grow. Not every thing has to be bought.

I forgot to take a photo at the day one. But here is another photo two weeks and some cuts later.

If you choose to plant them, make sure they are watered regularly. But you don't have to plant them. They grow nicely in the water.

Try it and let me know your result.

Paris

Ver

Home made Soy Milk. Zero waste.

I love milk. But i am also lactose intolerant. This has been a problem for me when i want to enjoy my beloved cereal in the mornings.

Unfortunately, Soy, Almond or Coconut milk do not come in returnable glass bottles like milk does. I don't want to buy them in none recyclable cardboard either. So I make my own.

It is too simple to not do it.

Here is how.

Dry Soy beans soaked over night.

1. Soak 1 cup of dry soy beans in the water over night.( preferably organic soy beans. I buy them in bulk).











2. Juice the soy along with four cups of water. We have a squeeze juicer that works excellent.

Pass the soy beans through a juicer.

3. Clip a cheese cloth to a pot and pour your juice through it. I like to squeeze it so all the juice comes out. You can also do this after boiling to get more juice extracted from the pulps.

4. Boil the juice for ten minutes. You can add vanilla extract and sugar to it at this time if you prefer.

5. Pour it in a clean sterilized glass. I use my milk glasses from Strauss family. The pulp goes in to my compost, or garden under the dirt.

6.Use it within a week.

Enjoy.







Don't throw food away Series. All left overs soup.

Here in US, we throw left over away very easily. What we are not aware is that this left over can easily become great Delicious meals for the whole family. Why waste?

Ingredients:

1. Take home Left over chow mein from restaurant. My son rarely finishes all his food and we usually end up taking his left over home. It has been a life saver since i can pack it for his lunch in daycare the next day.  or he can have it as a snack. This time we ended up with extra chow mein ( Chinese noodles) it was not enough to become his lunch. So i decided to become creative.

 

2. Left over oven baked vegetable from a party ( Frozen) it consisted of green beans, carrots, Broccoli and Napa cabbage.

3. Broccoli stems saved in freezer.

4. Rotisserie chicken . we just had some wonderful friends over and i decided to have a simple friendly dinner. So i got 3 rotisserie chickens and cooked some vegetables for the side. At the end of the  dinner, i ended up with lots of chicken parts an tons of chicken broth and juices plus some baked vegetables.

Boiling chicken broth. Full of nutrients

. So i put the chicken in a pot with cover and in refrigerator. The next day, i got to work. first i added some water and let the whole thing boil for about 30 min. then i had tons of very very rich chicken broth. I filled small 2 jars and placed them in freezer after they cooled off ( ran out of empty jars, otherwise i could have filled many of them) . then while it was boiling some more , around 6 spoon full broth and some chicken was place in a separate pot along with some broccoli stems i saved in freezer. Once the broccoli was cooked, I put the left over vegetable and noodles in. 5 minutes later we had the yummiest soup.

As far as rest of the chicken goes, i removed all the bones and ended up with a huge batch of tender meat and broth. I am going to use half for a Persian dish ( Fesenjoon) and the other half for another soup tomorrow.



Yummy soup.

Wonderful meals have been prepared from only left overs. Why waste, if it can be used. Did i mentioned the amount of nutrients in these meals?

Try it.
Happy cooking with left overs.

Don't throw food away Series. Bread.

On good old days, food was expensive and sacred. we didn't have all the convenience of huge grocery stores and food deliveries. Now a days, we can even order food on Internet!

The result of this convenience and the low price of genetically modified and artificially fertilized food is a huge amount of waste. Bread has become the one thing that gets thrown a way a lot due to the fast change in freshness and taste and low price. Fresh bread can be heavenly while couple of days old bread is not as good any more.



Here are ways to save this important food.

• Preserve the bread.Freeze the bread as soon as you buy it. Place in toasted only when you are ready to use it. It will maintain it's taste and freshness and you will not waste any, since you only toast the bread you need. ( This has been my system for years)

• Bread Crumbs.Let the old and stale bread dry, them place them in blender with some garlic powder. Place them in an airtight jar in the freezer. I use it for home made Chicken Tenders , Shrimp popcorn or chicken schnitzel. It is very easy. You can dredge chicken, Zucchini , Egg plants, fish , shrimp or anything you choose in the bread crumbs after dipping them in beat-ed egg. just fry them. yum

• French toast. This is one of my kid's favorite breakfasts. Just beat eggs and add salt to the mixture. then soak the stale bread in it for few minutes on boat sides. Fry it in hot oil or butter. You can add honey if you like it sweet.

• Croutons.Cut the stale bread in cubes. Saute in ground fresh or powdered garlic, butter and olive oil. Use it on Salads.

• Use it for french Onion soap. I have never made it, but would like to experiment it with one of the on line recipes.

• Feed the birds and fish. This has been one of our favorite quality times with my kids. We just keep all the bread crumbs and unused stale breads and take them once a while to the pond close to our home and feed the ducks and fish. Our little old bread crumbs could actually become a whole meals for the wild turkey and duck and fish in the area.

 
The below post is a contribution from my wonderful sister in law. Elke Parsa. She lives in Europe.
Thank you Elke :)

Paris


Bread bin not waste bin

 

Photo Credit: Elke Parsa
 

Are you, like me, always tempted when you see (and smell!) real fresh bread? In particular those French and Italian country breads? They have the loveliest names and more importantly they have the best taste. However, as a conscious consumer, especially when there are not many in your household, you might think twice about buying them since they are hard to keep fresh. You rush to enjoy your first couple of freshly cut slices but then, sometimes only even after a day, you find yourself losing interest in this loaf that is staring at you from the counter top. Until it becomes stale and you think you have a good reason to throw it away. Don’t!

 

This is what the Italians do with their stale bread – a Mediterranean recipe that brings your stale bread back to – a different (!) – life.

 

Panzanella

Tuscan bread salad serves 3- 4 people (as a starter or 2 as a main course)

 

4 thick slices of stale bread

½ cucumber

2 firm, meaty tomatoes

1 red onion

small bunch of fresh parsley leafs

a few fresh basil leafs

1-2 cloves of garlic

½ cup of olive oil

2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar

salt

freshly ground black pepper

 

Soak the bread briefly in water, squeeze the water out as much as possible and crumble the bread slices. Peal and dice the cucumber. Cut the tomatoes into small cubes. Chop the onion, garlic together with the parsley. Tear the basil leafs into small pieces. Mix all ingredients in a large salad bowl. Dress the salad like Italians do: poor a rich amount of olive oil on top op the salad and drizzle some vinegar over it as well. Finally add salt and pepper. Mix again until all vegetables and bread are covered with the dressing.

 

Serve the salad cool, but do not place it in the refrigerator since it will cause the salad to loose its flavor.

 

Tip: You can replace the cucumber by leafy vegetables like rocket salad. And as a delicious extra you can add chunks of roasted eggplant to the salad.

 

Elke Parsa

 

 

The best coffee!!!

  

   

   

 

We like to drink coffee.

We are not addicted. But we enjoy the aroma of a good coffee on a Sunday morning. We used To just automatically drive to Starbucks and buy our coffee. But over the years many things changed.

What is Our new way of drinking coffee which we love and truly enjoy?

Here is the secret:

• USDA Organic
• Shade grown, rain forest alliance certified.
• Fair trade 
• Bird friendly
• Beans
• French press
• Purchased from bulk in my own bags to reduce the waste. 

Organic shade grown coffee. This coffee just taste much better. The regular , normal, natural coffee should grow in the rain forests. Shade and rain forest trees are the ideal environment for the coffee plant growth. The trees protect the coffee plants from bugs and other pests. They also provide natural fertilizer from their mulch. These rain forest trees also are the home to migrating North American births and are vital for those bird's survival.

 But we changed the coffee for our own greed and for the profit of our companies. The regular coffee we consume is made differently.  It is genetically modified to grow in the sun so the production per sq. is higher, thus the profit is higher. Unfortunately in many areas of the world many rain forest trees are cut down to make room for genetically modified coffee plants. This deforestation has an huge impact on the health of our planet.

When a coffee is organic, it means it has not been genetically modified, did not have pesticides and fertilizers. So our best bet is to buy organic shade grown coffee.

The market for the coffee is so big that are many black markets involved and many people make tons of illegal money in this process. Buying Fair trade coffee, makes sure the right people get paid by our purchase.

As far as the taste goes, grinding a bean from scratch makes a big difference. When you buy pre-grind coffee, the beans loose some freshness and aroma in the process . Invest in a grinder and enjoy making and drinking coffee every step of the way.

We switched to French press to reduce our electronics in our home. Surprisingly, we found that our coffee tastes much better. I think living the coffee soaking in the hot water helped to release more aroma and more flavor.

Have you tried to drink the better coffee yet?